pre-empt
verb /ˌpriː ˈempt/
/ˌpriː ˈempt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they pre-empt | /ˌpriː ˈempt/ /ˌpriː ˈempt/ |
| he / she / it pre-empts | /ˌpriː ˈempts/ /ˌpriː ˈempts/ |
| past simple pre-empted | /ˌpriː ˈemptɪd/ /ˌpriː ˈemptɪd/ |
| past participle pre-empted | /ˌpriː ˈemptɪd/ /ˌpriː ˈemptɪd/ |
| -ing form pre-empting | /ˌpriː ˈemptɪŋ/ /ˌpriː ˈemptɪŋ/ |
- pre-empt something to prevent something from happening by taking action to stop it
- Her departure pre-empted any further questions.
- A good training course will pre-empt many problems.
- The government announced it had pre-empted a coup attempt.
- pre-empt somebody/something to do or say something before somebody else does
- She was just about to apologize when he pre-empted her.
- I do not want to pre-empt anything that the treasurer is going to say.
- It would be wrong for me to pre-empt any future decision the committee might make.
- pre-empt something (North American English) to replace a planned programme on the television
- The scheduled programme will be pre-empted by a special news bulletin.
Word Originmid 19th cent.: back-formation from pre-emption.